“Electoral Reform and Social Justice”

An address at an SPC forum on 14 November.

Are disadvantaged groups being denied a voice?
Three million Aussie voters missing from the count.
Why it matters who votes, and how.

Brian Costar is Professor of Victorian Parliamentary Democracy, and the Director of the Democratic Audit of Australia. A frequent media commentator on state and federal politics, he has written widely on contemporary political issues.

“At first glance, there might not seem to be much of a connection between social justice and voting methods, but there is. Research in the USA shows that areas with high concentrations of non-voters, who are usually less well off, are ignored by the political parties and policymakers, such that their social disadvantage is exacerbated. This is a good argument in favour of Australia’s system of mandatory enrolment and voting. But we too have problems with effective turnout. As in 2010, nearly three million otherwise qualified electors did not cast a vote that was entered into the count on 7 September 2013.” Brian Costar.

At the SPC forum on refugees and asylum seekers on 7 August 2013 at Yarra Theological Union in Box Hill, Caz Coleman discussed how Australia could better manage unauthorised boat arrivals of asylum seekers and refugees.

Caz recently returned from Nauru as Contract Manager for the Salvation Army support services. She previously worked as the Director of the Hotham Mission Asylum Seeker Project, with the Uniting Church Justice and International Mission Unit and in the Refugee program of the National Council of Churches in Australia, and has long experience with refugee issues.

Misha Coleman (no relation to Caz), Executive Officer of the Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce, also spoke on how the local church and community groups can help shape policies by contacting their local politicians personally or by mail.

President of the ACTU

I am very pleased to speak here this evening with Brian Howe, who played such a significant role as chair of the Independent Inquiry into Insecure Work in Australia, which issued its report, Lives on Hold: Unlocking the Potential of Australia’s Workforce, in 2012. The Inquiry was commissioned by the ACTU because of our growing concern about the impact of casualisation and contracting in the workforce, undermining wages and working conditions.

You can’t talk about the future of work without talking about the present situation for so many Australians in insecure work. The Independent Inquiry into Insecure Work gave us the evidence we needed to start talking about insecure work in a really informed way.

In 2010 when I was travelling around the country speaking to workers about the Federal Election I heard the stories of so many workers who were in the midst of insecure work. These workers were from every state and every industry, from the public and the private sector.

We knew that insecure work was a growing problem in Australian society, but the inquiry showed us just how widespread it was. The Inquiry held hearings all around the country and took hundreds of submissions from workers, employers, unions and researchers – in fact they received over 550 submissions.

‘DC Rally Supporting WI Workers 22’ by SEIU,flickr cc

Again and again, the Inquiry heard stories from workers who, because of the precarious nature of their employment:

□ Were unable to plan ahead or make time to be with their families

□ Find it impossible to get a car loan or a home loan

□ Were too afraid to speak out at work about issues like health and safety.

And the Inquiry pinpointed exactly how insecure work is growing:

□ Casual employment has been transformed and entrenched in our economy as a tool to minimise costs rather than to deal with temporary or intermittent variations in the patterns of work. Over half of all casuals are “permanent casuals” who have been employed in their current job for over a year, and over 15% of casuals have been in their job for more than five years.

□ Fixed-term employment is being used heavily by employers to avoid the costs associated with standard employment conditions like leave and the notice of termination – particularly in the public sector. Just think of the number of teachers employed today on rolling fixed-term contracts.

□ The growth of the “workforce management industry” and the use of labour hire have created new avenues for cutting costs and transforming permanent jobs into casual positions.

□ Independent contracting is being misused to mask employment relationships.

□ ABS data suggests that around 40% of independent contractors have no authority over their own work, and sham contracting is far too common in some industries such as construction.

□ Insecure work is an issue that permeates throughout the whole economy – but has the starkest impact on the people who can afford it least.

□ Women whose caring needs force them into insecure work because they have no real choice;

□ Migrant workers who experience some of the worst forms of exploitation;

□ Older men who’ve lost their permanent jobs and find themselves stuck in insecure work; and

□ Young people at the beginning of their working lives who are trying to break out of insecure work and start a career.

This new workforce did not happen by accident; it happened because of the actions of economically and politically powerful people and institutions that set out to make this happen. It was engineered by employers and business people who took advantage of the changes. People made it.

We must accept that job insecurity is the consequence of an economy, driven by profit at all cost, that used workplace reforms to take advantage of those who can least afford it.

The great reformers of the Hawke/Keating era and the Kelty Accord did to some extent foresee the probable impact on workers associated with the liberalisation of the market and consciously implemented a social safety net including Medicare, Superannuation and a Skills agenda.

But I would contend that, while there was consideration given to the possible outcomes of the reforms, there was a failure fully to anticipate the breadth of the safety net measures that were truly needed to avoid the situation so many Australian workers now find themselves in.

For example a portable entitlements scheme would have been a practical approach to helping people deal with the peaks and troughs of insecure, unpredictable work and incomes.

If there had been a greater, prolonged effort, if there had not been the election of a conservative government and if they had not been in power so long, we would, perhaps, have had no need for the fights we are now having.

The Howard Government’s total failure to invest and expand the social policy aspects of the 1980s’ reforms, their weakening the safety net along with the implementation of the dangerous WorkChoices industrial relations laws, provided all that employers needed to expand casualisation, sham contracting and other forms of insecure work.

This process was part of a broader project of staunch neoliberalism and free market ideology.

The free trade, deregulation and profit-driven agenda was part of a broader social shift during the early 1990s that resulted in a failure on multiple levels. It was a failure of government, of business and also of civil society, including unions.

I don’t think society as a whole failed to notice the shift, to notice that more and more of their friends and colleagues were experiences shifts in work; and yet they failed to speak up.

It was people, employers and business people, who took advantage of changes to make insecure work. That was true, but I’m here to tell you that it’s other people, people like those in this room and a whole lot more, joining together that will unmake it. We can conquer this.

It has been nearly three decades since the drastic reforms of the 1980s. We have seen successive governments be drawn in by the idea that profit is king and the road to a strong economy and prosperous community comes from deregulation.

It has been three decades of offshoring, of the myth that productivity comes while workers are fearful, and most of all, it has been three decades of growing insecurity for the workers of Australia. This project has run its course and it has failed.

The lives of insecure workers who live with less confidence and opportunity than many of their fellow Australians stand as proof of that failure. They are the ones who can’t plan ahead to be with their family or friends, to take their children to weekend sport or to make investments on things like a house or a car. They are the ones who cannot rely on the benefits that generations of union members have won for most of us.

It’s clear that doing nothing and allowing the current situation to remain will only lead to more of the same; more employers getting rid of workers before they are obliged to provide permanent employment; more workers having to spend nights and early mornings making phone calls to see if they’ve been given a shift; more workers being bounced from one short term work placement to another, never feeling comfortable, always acting as a stop-gap; more Australians being made to feel disposable and not valued, living a half-life, not a full one.

I want to share with you one particular story from the Inquiry – it’s the story of Mrs Fan, a textile worker in Sydney. Mrs Fan came to Australia eight years ago from Vietnam. She is an older woman, and struggled to get any work in a factory as a result of her age. So Mrs Fan became an outworker, making dresses at home that might sell in retail outlets for between $700 and $1,000.

There were at least three middle-men in the production supply chain who all took their cut before Mrs Fan got paid, leaving her earning piece rates as low as $7 per dress. When Mrs Fan’s union – the TCFUA – found her they sat down with the boss and negotiated a better contract, which led to her being paid $13 per garment.

But even this is well below the Award rate that workers in factory-based production would be being paid as a minimum.

Sometimes, the principal contractor or one of their suppliers might decide to hurry up an order, leaving Mrs Fan with little time to complete her work. When this happened, Mrs Fan would be forced to work overnight to get the job done. So the Inquiry asked her – how do you stay aware all night when you have to work overnight? Coffee? Drugs? Mrs Fan answered: “I have no choice. Fear keeps me awake.”

A discussion of the future of work in this country needs to be part of a greater conversation of what role work should play in the makeup of our society. We cannot have a sustainable, cohesive, informed and involved society when people are afraid because of insecure work.

The need for an end to insecure work is not about seeking something that is not deserved, it’s simply about opportunity. It’s about every one of us getting a chance to fulfil our potential. That’s not a lot to ask.

In July 2013 the ACTU will launch the Charter for Secure Jobs and a Better Life. This will be a document that sets out our central proposition, that the most important part of our society can’t be profit at any cost and it can’t be an IR system where short-term employees and fixed-term workers bear all the risk, and the cost of a drop in sales and orders, or a cash-flow problem.

This casualisation of the workforce, the abuse of fixed-term contracts and the misuse of independent contractors has, at its heart, been about disempowering workers and undermining their ability to organise.

We need to empower these people again, to organise them. We need to argue for a society where workers are secure at work, where they feel safe to speak up and join a union, where they are given the opportunity by employers to take the time to care.

We need to ensure the protections of work-life balance remain intact, protections like penalty rates, overtime and leave entitlements.

We need to start a discussion about the role of government when the market fails, about how a truly strong government has at its heart a well-resourced public service that allows for universal access, delivery according to need, services free at the point of use, and services delivered for the public good rather than for profit.

We must accept a very basic idea that, at the very least, Australians who show up for work and do an honest job should be able to build on their earnings, even if they only do short stints at various workplaces. The ACTU will be leading the drive for a national portable entitlements scheme aimed at reducing job and income insecurity.

Individual Australians on their own do not have the power or resources that are available to the corporations. But as union members, tapping into long history of Australians standing up for what’s fair, they can get that power.

What’s made this country great and made our society so strong is that generations of working people decided that the status quo was ripe for improvement. They saw each other as they really were, as people with lives and homes and aspirations for their loved ones, not as consumers or clients or just another cost on the balance sheet.

If we work together we can make security, respect, equality the future of work in Australia. We can adjust our thinking and improve our culture. We can challenge the status quo.

Dr Joan Daw’s book presents the findings of a research project of the Yarra Institute for Religion & Social Policy. Dr Kath Engebretson launched this important publication on 17 May 2013 at the Knox Centre in Melbourne. The project was part-funded with a grant from the Melbourne College of Divinity.

Copies of the book are available for $20 each plus $5 postage from the Yarra Institute,
PO Box 505, Box Hill, Victoria 3128, admin@yarrainstitute.org.au
03 9899 4777.

I was delighted to be invited to launch Joan Daw’s book on young people, faith, and spirituality. As an educator and academic in the discipline of religious education, I have often contended that the tireless work of Catholic schools in providing Christian service programs and opportunities for justice involvement for their students is undermined if there is not also an explicit link between these programs, the teaching and actions of Jesus Christ, and the powerful principles of Catholic social teaching.

Service motivated by volunteerism out of a sense of community solidarity, fundraising for social causes, and good neighbourliness are all excellent, but they are far short of the radical work for justice to which Christians are called.

Underpinning this call is the example of Jesus’ table fellowship with those on the margins of society and his determination to challenge the obsession with ritual purity of his fellow Jews that labelled some as unclean and therefore as outcast.

Volunteerism is also far short of the call to scrutinise unjust and oppressive societal and global structures, and to work to eradicate them that is at the heart of Catholic social teaching. Christian service programs in Catholic schools belong to the longing for and straining towards the Reign of God that has been the vocation of the Church since Jesus Christ spoke of God’s reign as already present but still to come.

These claims are obvious, but I know of no other research that addresses this connection than that of Joan Daw as reported in her book Young People, Faith, & Social Justice. Joan’s research proceeded from four sets of questions. The first group of questions concerned the extent to which the faith narrative and faith community influences young people to take up social justice activities. The second group of questions concerned young people’s social networks and the modelling of others as incentives to social justice activities. The third group of questions centred on the benefits accrued to young people from their involvement. And the fourth concerned the motivations of the young people: were they motivated by a Christian vision of justice, or by more secular concerns?

The research was grounded in current literature on young people, spirituality, and faith, and the groups of questions to which I have already alluded emerged from this literature. This review of the literature is, in itself, a fine aspect of the book, one that will be of interest to other researchers, and one to which I know I will return in my own work.

The empirical part of the research centred on Catholic secondary schools and Catholic social justice organisations with a high level of youth involvement in social justice activities. In all, nine organisations participated, five Catholic secondary schools in differing socio-economic areas of Melbourne, and four Catholic social justice organisations. Single in-depth interviews were conducted with teachers who led Christian service programs and representatives of the social justice organisations, a total of nine extended interviews in all.

As Joan explains, the interviewees were selected on the basis of their relevant position in a school or organisation with a high level of youth involvement in social justice activities. Clearly, the interviews were extensive, ranging over many aspects of the topic, and quotations from the interviews are widely used throughout the book to illustrate the findings.

This is the second aspect of the book I want to commend. The voices of the teachers and justice organisation represented are warm, thoughtful, reflective, and wise, and Joan has respected them and used them very effectively in her reporting.

An entire chapter is given to the kinds of activities taken up by young people, and these were numerous, ranging from simple fundraising activities to life-changing immersion programs in disadvantaged communities, to advocacy on behalf of the powerless. In the data from the schools, the three findings that struck me were the need for the social justice activities to be underpinned by Scripture and Catholic social teaching in the religious education curriculum, the need for structure and leadership in offering these programs, and the need for them to be highly visible in the school. This visibility gives them an aura of ‘coolness’ – that is, not just something churchy people do.

Among a wide ranging menu of activities, the social justice organisations had young people involved in awareness-raising through information sessions and face-to-face encounters with disadvantage.

Turning now to the four sets of questions that guided the research, I’d like to concentrate on some of the findings. The first area of research was the extent to which the faith narrative and faith community influenced young people to take up social justice activities, that is, the context of their activities. The second group of questions concerned young people’s social networks and the modelling of others as incentives to social justice activities.

In general, in relation to the schools, the community context was very important. When the Christian story and vision were taught in the school as well as being modelled by teachers who were themselves motivated by this story to work for justice, optimal conditions for the involvement of young people were created. The young people needed to see the connection between the narrative (that is, the gospel and Catholic social teaching) and the school community of which they were a part. Both aspects were essential: the why of the gospel story and Catholic social teaching; and the how of the Christian message being lived out in the school community which modelled ways in which young people could also work for justice.

Similar findings came from the research with the social justice organisation representatives. They too emphasised the role of the sacred narrative in providing a context and rationale for the activities. They too emphasised the power of modelling and the ways in which social justice activities could provide community and communal bases for action for young adults.

Other motivating factors linked to the parish, the school, and the individual emerged from the school data. The observation by the teachers that very few of their students were involved with a parish or attended Sunday Mass unless there was a strong family commitment to this, comes as no surprise. The teachers proffered a variety of familiar reasons for this, but the overall conclusion was that the social justice activities of the young people did not, with rare exceptions, flow from Eucharistic participation, at least at a parish level.

This is very significant when we recall that Vatican II speaks of the Eucharist as the apex and font of Christian life, and sees all Christian service as emanating from Eucharist and returning to Eucharist. As one of the teachers remarked, “You’ve got to know what happens at Mass to make the connection between Mass and justice in real life. If you’re not going to Mass, then you’re not even going to ask the questions.”.

The challenges in this issue are immense for dioceses, parishes, and Catholic schools. As Joan points out, the most effective context for young people taking part in social justice is when there are connections between the family, the school, the parish, the weekly Eucharist, and social justice organisations. This connectedness is the key, so that the young are aware that involvement is part of their entire Christian lives, not just something they do at school

Again not surprisingly, the influence of families is powerful. If in their families the young people encountered a passion for justice in their parents or siblings, they were more likely themselves to make choices for involvement. A very interesting finding was that there is no one set of characteristics that distinguishes the students who decide to become involved. They may be natural leaders, or have introverted personalities. They are not always model students. A passion for justice can be found in the rebellious student or in those who are blessed with natural empathy.

Benefits to young people

The third set of questions concerned the benefits that accrue to young people who take part in social justice activities. These benefits are many, and were identified by the teachers as the development of confidence, skills, a sense of achievement, and reinforcement of Christian faith.

Also interesting were the findings about young people maintaining their involvement. In some cases, schools provided opportunities for school leavers, and in others, the school fostered relationships with social justice organisations so that there was a natural progression into continued involvement when the young people left school. I was struck by the story of one school to which lots of Year 7s turned up to a lunchtime social justice information session because they were new to the school, were lonely, and wanted something to do at lunchtime. This is what the teacher said about this:

It began because they were lonely Year 7s and they liked the food that was provided. But with time they became hugely committed, and by the end of Year 12 they were absolutely committed. Even though they are now at uni, they’ve been back to two meetings this year to see how it’s going.

Connecting the dots: faith and social justice.

The fourth group of research questions concerned the motivations of the young people, and whether they were motivated by a Christian vision of justice or by secular concerns. There are many insightful comments by teachers and social justice organisation representatives about the extent to which the young peoples’ involvement was guided by Christian faith, and opinions varied about this.

The teachers were of the view that the young people expressed their spirituality in terms of wonderment at creation and a search for meaning, rather than in formally religious ways, except at times of loss and tragedy, when Catholicism offered them deep support.

In addition, and exacerbated by their lack of direct experience of the Church, the content put before them in religious education classes has difficulty taking root. This also has implications for social justice involvement. If their connection to the tradition is weak, faith is not a strong motivator for involvement.

Another finding, one which is of great interest and relevance to all Catholic schools, is that in consequence of their general lack of association with the Church, young people often receive a fragmented version of the Christian story, missing out on vital understandings that would be present if the whole of Christian life were familiar. This is not to lament the glory days of the past, but to state the situation simply as it is and as the teachers described it. There seemed to be a consensus that approximately half the young people did not make the connection.

Despite the best efforts of the schools and the social justice organisations, some of the young people appeared to be involved in social justice activities for humanistic reasons, rather than as a result of Christian motivation specifically. Joan is rightly cautious about this, however. Most young people find it very difficult to talk about religious faith and spirituality, and the fact that they don’t articulate it is not necessarily a sign that their involvement does not come from a Christian motivation. Their humanistic values may well be grounded in a Christian faith they are unable to articulate. This is an area for another study in which young people who are involved in Christian service are asked specifically why they have made this choice. Perhaps this is another project for the Yarra Institute.

I could go on, but that is probably enough. In short, we need this research and the book to which it has led. It raises our knowledge about the young people in our schools and social justice organisations; it points to gaps in and between religious education curricula and Christian service programs; it gives us an agenda for the future to make the connections between faith, the Church, the gospel, Catholic social teaching, and Christian service more explicit; it challenges us to work with understanding alongside young people in helping them to make connections between Christianity and the service they choose.

The recommendations at the end of the book provide the basis of an ongoing agenda, and I commend them to you. Thanks to Joan and to the Yarra Institute for this excellent work, and congratulations. To all of you, I present, Young People, Faith, & Social Justice by Dr Joan Daw.

]]>http://www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au/?feed=rss2&p=62650The future of workhttp://www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au/?p=6236
http://www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au/?p=6236#respondWed, 22 May 2013 03:05:47 +0000http://www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au/?p=6236With Professor Brian Howe and Ged Kearney, President of the ACTU.

For many, work is ever less secure, with fluctuating hours and pay, making it difficult for people to plan their lives, or even to obtain a loan for a home or a car. How can we reshape work to provide improved life opportunities for people at work, with increased equity, participation in decision-making, and security?

These talks will be on our website shortly, along with the Youtube clips.

A Forum of Social Policy Connections

Tuesday 28 May

Professor Brian Howe

University of Melbourne Centre for Public Policy

Professor Howe was Deputy Prime Minister of Australia (1991-1995), a member of the Federal Cabinet (1984-1996), and held a range of Ministerial portfolios in the fields of Defence, Social Security, Health, Housing, and Community Services. His administration of these portfolios was distinguished by major policy initiatives in Social Security reform of family payments, and the introduction of Child Support, the National Mental Health Strategy, and the Commonwealth Dental Scheme. He was also responsible for important Commonwealth State initiatives such as the Commonwealth State Disability Agreement and the Building Better Cities program.

Ged Kearney

President of the ACTU

Elected President of the ACTU in 2010, Ged (Gerardine) Kearney was a registered nurse before becoming manager of the Clinical Nursing Education Department at Austin Health. In 2008, she was elected Federal Secretary of the Australian Nursing Federation, with its 200,000 members. She believes that unions should not be concerned only with experience at work, but with improving the lives of all Australians. She grew up in Richmond, the second youngest of nine, and has four children of her own aged from 16 to 23.

]]>http://www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au/?feed=rss2&p=62360What I have learned about the churches & public policyhttp://www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au/?p=6151
http://www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au/?p=6151#respondWed, 24 Apr 2013 05:09:54 +0000http://www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au/?p=6151Pat Power

Bishop Emeritus

Guest speaker at an SPC forum on 17 April 2013

“Growing up in Queanbeyan, adjacent to Canberra, I never took exception to its nickname, ‘Struggletown’. My father politely pointed out that Queanbeyan was the mother of Canberra, and it was simply a case of the child outgrowing the parent. In my boyhood in the post-World War II days, Queanbeyan welcomed many refugees from war-torn Europe, and my parents were great examples to me of caring for the battlers. Dad was a Justice of the Peace, and not only did he witness the signatures of the ‘New Australians’ on their documents, but he also helped them to navigate their way through potentially difficult waters. He adopted a similar role as a member of the St Vincent de Paul Society and in community activities. My mother welcomed all comers into our home and showed them unconditional love.

To stand up for the poor, even as a child, was second nature to me, and one of the motivations which led me to consider becoming a priest. From my early days in the priesthood, I had some great role models in promoting justice and respect for the people I was privileged to serve. In many ways, it was the struggling people themselves who gave me some of the best lessons in life.”

Bishop Power on Pope Francis and reform in the Church

]]>http://www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au/?feed=rss2&p=61510Bishop Vincent Long launches Bruce Duncan’s ‘Social justice: fuller life in a fairer world’.http://www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au/?p=6139
http://www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au/?p=6139#respondSat, 09 Mar 2013 05:17:47 +0000http://www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au/?p=6139Bishop Vincent Long launched Social Justice by Fr Bruce Duncan on 1 March at the Cardinal Knox Centre in Melbourne. Bishop Long studied with Bruce at Yarra Theological College more than 20 years ago. Speaking to an audience of about 60 people, Bishop Long said:

“This book shows how concern for social justice is central to Christian faith, as the Scriptures insist. Jesus is the prophet of justice par excellence. As he declares in the Last Judgement scene in Matthew 25, God identifies with the sick, hungry, naked, the stranger. The parable of Lazarus and the rich man again emphasises that God takes very seriously our response to the poor …